A Sudoku That Makes The Digits Dance

** TODAY'S SUDOKU **
Today we feature a sequel to a puzzle we solved a few months ago called Union. Reunion is also by Playmaker6174 and it's REALLY clever. Do give it a try at the link below:
app.crackingth...
Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. Digits along an arrow must sum to the digit in that arrow's circle. Digits along a purple line cannot repeat and form a consecutive set in any order.
▶ NEW PATREON CONTENT ◀
NEW SUDOKU HUNT RELEASED JUST OUT. It's called Guess Again and it's available now. Send in your solution by 20 March for a chance to win a prize.
Also new on Patreon is Simon's solve of Sam Cappleman-Lynes' Tie Fighter Starbattle.
Other Patreon exclusives:
- Simon's solve of Balance = Entropy, a brilliant new sudoku from JeremyDover and Raumplaner.
- Mark's latest fight with The Times Club Monthly Special cryptic crossword.
- The QAS ("Quite Approachable Sudoku") Hunt (solutions due tomorrow please!)
You can join us on Patreon for as little as $2/month here:
/ crackingthecryptic
▶ Contant Us ◀
Twitter: @Cracking The Cryptic
email: [e-mail]
Our PO Box address:
Simon Anthony & Mark Goodliffe
Box 102
56 Gloucester Road
London
SW7 4UB
(Please note to use our real names rather than 'Cracking The Cryptic'.)
▶ SUDOKU PAD - Our New App ◀
It's OUT on Windows (released yesterday!) via Steam here:
store.steampow...
You can now input your own classic sudoku puzzles into our software using our new App! The app also comes with 12 handmade puzzles from us and we're also releasing occasional bonus puzzles too. Already available on IOS and Android.
** Our Book **
The PDF is available as of today and the physical copy shouldn't be far behind. If you don't own the book then it can still be ordered here:
www.kickstarte...
You can get the German language edition of the book here:
www.jmb-verlag...
**************************************************************
▶ OUR ARROW SUDOKU APP IS OUT ON ALL PLATFORMS!
Here are the links:
Steam:
store.steampow...
App Store:
apps.apple.com...
Google Play:
play.google.co...
▶ OUR KILLER SUDOKU APP IS OUT ON ALL PLATFORMS◀
apps.apple.com...
store.steampow...
play.google.co...
▶ SIMON REACTION BOARD (!) ◀
With thanks to Andrea for creating this :)
simonreacts.av...
▶ CTC FAN DISCORD SERVER◀
/ discord
NEW: Guide To Our Discord Server:
tinyurl.com/CT...
▶ OUR BACK CATALOGUE - ALL CATEGORISED WITH LINKS!◀
tinyurl.com/CT...
▶ NEW CRACKING THE CRYPTIC MERCHANDISE◀
teespring.com/...
▶ OUR CHESS SUDOKU APP IS NOW OUT!◀
AppStore: apps.apple.com...
Steam: store.steampow...
Android: play.google.co...
▶TRY OUR CLASSIC SUDOKU APP◀
AppStore: apps.apple.com...
Steam: store.steampow...
Android: play.google.co...
▶TRY OUR SANDWICH SUDOKU APP◀
AppStore: apps.apple.com...
Steam: store.steampow...
Android: play.google.co...
▶SEND US PUZZLES TO SOLVE/CONTACT US◀
[e-mail]
▶FOLLOW US◀
Twitter: #crypticcracking
@crypticcracking
Instagram (for how to solve daily clues from The Times): www.instagram....
▶Logo Design◀
Melvyn Mainini

[@Playmaker6174]

Hello CTC, Playmaker6174 is here! I want to say thank you for featuring another lovely puzzle from mine, and also thank you for making everyone’s day (including me) more and more better with daily uploads, you guys are awesome! About your solve: You really nailed the break-in perfectly, right on the spot of what I intended and then nailed the way each of the outside renban works. To be honest, if you spotted the fact about the small renban in c34 and then some single digits afterwards the solve would be reasonably faster but because you got the opening and later half so perfectly, I can forgive you that :) About the puzzle itself: Originally the main structure was only c34 and some sorts of weird interactions in the mid solve; because I felt that it’s quite unsatisfying to me, I decided to add c67 into the play and both structures interact neatly between each other, and eventually I got this puzzle right here. I was also deciding to name the puzzle “Salmon Ladder” instead after adding c67 but making a title connected to my previous Unity puzzle would be much better, considering you have to use the intended logic again in c67. :} Edit: another fun fact: today is actually my birthday in my place so I’m really happy to see such special birthday gift to me! 😊

[@Playmaker6174]

For more of my puzzles, you can check out more on either CTC discord server archive or the LMG site, my latest puzzle (build your own killer) has been out for a while :}

[@mishkac927]

Congratulations on both events!

[@ericpraline1302]

Belated happy birthday, and thanks for the very enjoyable present!

[@kathyjohnson2043]

Happy Birthday!!!

[@julianriml4860]

thank you for the incredible puzzle it was a pleasure to solve although i did make a mistake somewhere and had to start over again it was a fun journey all the way! Happy birthday and keep up the amazing work!

[@ryanbritt6874]

I laughed out loud at 6:54 when Simon lowered his voice to tell us The Secret™.

[@dontmindme2844]

I'm mystified that Simon deduced that the left side renban was one higher (column 3)...then did the same on the right side (all 3 column 7)... Uses it on the right side and forgets about it on the left...

[@tzeneth]

This was driving me insane because when he narrowed the red digit to 6 or 7 and the connecting digit to 5 or 8. If the connecting digit needs to be 1 lower, there's only 1 option and you now know both of them!

[@DirkieB]

I like to think that Simon is so incredibly smart that he does this on purpose. He sees all these things instantly, and purposely ignored them and finds ways around it so that we the people feel smart and engaged and keep watching :) You can see this behavior sometimes when he moves his cursor over exactly where the logic is to move the puzzle further and doesn’t say anything about it.

[@G4M1L]

He also seems to forget it on the right side in a way. Otherwise he could have written in the 9s into the arrow circles immediately after that set/arithmetics deduction. For c6: 9 cannot be on the lower end of one of the short renban lines (r234), it isn't 1or2 (r15), cannot be on the arrow (r78), so must be in one of the arrow circles of that column, and the one in r9 already sees the 9 from the left side deduction in its row (r9c3), so the 9 is in r6c6). For c4: now all cells but one either see a 9 directly (r9c3, r6c6) or indirectly via their duplicates for the short arrows (r3c67), or they are already determined to be from 1234 - forcing the 9 in the column into r3c4.

[@dhalden93]

It drives me up a wall when I see logic that Simon didn't. Even though there's no way I would've gotten to the logic without Simon pointing out a ton of other stuff. The 9 in column 6 was exactly this issue for me. I so hoped he was going to use the continuation of his logic to get there, and then he tortured columns 3 and 4 to get the elegant logic he had already done... It was still great. And of course it's just absurd to me that I would be bothered because "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

[@welcometogeektown]

Screaming "578 Triple in Box 8!" for five minutes. Simon finds the six in a completely different way. Scream in exasperation. Love the video. I'm apparently a masochist.

[@goldenknight578]

I'm a simple person. I couldn't help but scream about just the 7's in Box 8 resolving the 6's.

[@josheury8411]

That's interesting, I found the six in a third way. Since the yellow 1234 group adds up to 10 and there's a 9 in column 3, the purple band number in column 4 has to be one LESS than the band number in column 3. As soon as Simon narrowed the options down to 6-5 or 7-8, it had to be 6-5 because 7-8 would have the difference going the wrong way.

[@lydeairwin5578]

When he said - how do I figure this out, and highlighted the 6 in box 8 I almost screamed. I will admit to yelling at my TV. Still absolutely beautiful solve.

[@donaldsnyder1543]

Admittedly I'm quite incapable of solving this but seeing not only the 5 7 8 triple and only one place for a 6 in the column gave me apoplexia.

[@tristiancorbett8896]

love this channel its one of the very best your calm logical solves in am evening are the perfect way to unwind before bed and watching this channel has also really upped my soduko skillset.

[@awilliams1701]

I got the 6 in R9C6 a different way. Once you had a 9 in R9C3 and 9 can't go on an arrow in C7, that means that 9 is on the renban lines. This means an 8 goes on the renban lines in C6. Since 6/8 were your options it was a 6.

[@Qwerty-li5ij]

I just love looking at these videos every evening. The sense of logic being applied (so satisfyingly) is just something else. Thanks a lot for the great vids!

[@-syntaxerrorguy7-10]

every time simon says the secret and then says "i only tell my favourite viewers about that" or "thats something i only tell special people" it brings a smile to my face

[@deejawng]

Simon, your videos make me so happy. Thanks.

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

You are most welcome :)

[@victusinambitus]

@@CrackingTheCryptic And your post solve analysis sharing your opinions is one of the highlights for me. If there is any opportunity for explaining how you find/see quadruples and quintruples (and the rules you use to see them) please explain this sometime. I've got doubles sussed but get lost trying to follow you on the bigger ones, the logic of how you get them would be much appreciated, thanks Simon. [Trying to be nice and kind in the comments here for you!]

[@emilywilliams3237]

Very interesting - thanks for this video and to Playmaker for the puzzle. And for every last thing about this channel. One of my favorite hang-outs on KZbin for certain.

[@mjdevorick8404]

Yes, I love this little corner of the internet where it is calm, logical and reasonable. 💗

[@tallcat]

Absolutely one of my favorite Playmaker puzzles and surpassing his prior renban arrow Unity. Glad to see this one featured :)

[@jaeusa160]

@14:00 An alternative way, and I think the intended way, to discover r9c6 is a 6 and a chain of logic related to it is to ask where the 8+9 go in column 7 as you had earlier. They go up in box 3 on Renbans and force column 6's 8 to be near the top.

[@L-po8rx]

When I started watching this channel, there would be no chance I could solve any of these puzzles. I have been watching for maybe 6 months, and now, slowly slowly I'm learning. It took me over an hour, but i solved this one. And am starting to be able to solve them regularly. It's nice.

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 01:50 Let's Get Cracking: 02:53 Simon's time: 40m14s Puzzle Solved: 43:07 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! The Secret: 1x (06:58) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Clever: 12x (08:10, 11:07, 18:10, 29:43, 29:48, 32:32, 32:34, 43:16, 44:11, 44:16, 44:32, 44:34) Ah: 9x (09:29, 12:20, 12:21, 19:34, 19:34, 28:37, 30:50, 35:14, 41:39) The Answer is: 5x (04:23, 04:25, 24:49, 25:05, 31:32, 40:36) Beautiful: 5x (01:08, 08:08, 33:28, 40:30, 43:19) Good Grief: 4x (08:10, 18:55, 19:09, 40:30) Wow: 4x (15:22, 15:25, 15:25, 24:38) What Does This Mean?: 4x (16:52, 21:23, 31:27, 34:24) Syzygy: 3x (02:57, 03:02, 03:03) By Sudoku: 3x (12:35, 31:42, 34:34) Hang On: 3x (13:46, 18:03, 30:45) Obviously: 3x (12:02, 17:08, 23:24) Sorry: 2x (11:58, 36:22) Stuck: 2x (24:59, 38:38) Lovely: 2x (15:22, 29:43) In Fact: 2x (26:33, 27:00) Bother: 1x (34:58) Going Mad: 1x (40:15) Deadly Pattern: 1x (39:25) Of All Things: 1x (05:15) Corollary: 1x (34:13) Whoopsie: 1x (21:06) Phone is Buzzing: 1x (11:41) Progress: 1x (24:45) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Fifteen (5 mentions) Three (88 mentions) Green (9 mentions) Antithesis Battles: Low (4) - High (2) Even (2) - Odd (1) White (2) - Black (0) FAQ: Q1: You missed something! A1: That could very well be the case! Human speech can be hard to understand for computers like me! Point out the ones that I missed and maybe I'll learn! Q2: Can you do this for another channel? A2: I've been thinking about that and wrote some code to make that possible. Let me know which channel you think would be a good fit!

[@DaedalusYoung]

Missed a Bobbins at 37:31

[@shangaiguarisnaque9277]

@@DaedalusYoung Well spotted!

[@tonyroberts3926]

Looks like you're going to have to add SYZYGY to the list!

[@inspiringsand123]

@@tonyroberts3926 Make sure to double check the list ;)

[@tonyroberts3926]

@@inspiringsand123 Oh well done, and I thought he only said it twice!

[@Piatato]

Not only a great solver, but one of my very favourite setters, too! 😁

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

28:33 for me. I loved the early logic in this puzzle, such a clever break-in. And it even keeps going after that, I indeed found the the middle part of the solve a little bit harder than the beginning. Awesome puzzle all in all, I really enjoyed it.

[@HunterJE]

14:20 Another (simpler for me at least) way to see that you can't put a circled digit on the arrows is to first note that the ONLY digit that could work with is a 6 (no way to put 7+ along either arrow while keeping the sum single-digit), and once 6 is in a circle the only valid sum is 15, which we already know would have to be 1+2+3+4+5 on the arrows and so can't include a repeated 6...

[@joelstevens5670]

Wow, what an absolutely phenomenal piece of sudoku setting! That’s one of my favourites of the year without doubt, the logic was just beautiful. A huge thank you to Playmaker6174 and I can’t wait to watch Simon’s solve. :)

[@Playmaker6174]

Thank you for your lovely comment! I’m thoroughly happy to hear that you enjoyed it a lot :)

[@therocknrollmillennial535]

45:00 for me on this one! This was a fun puzzle and it DOES make the digits dance, excellent title. Thank you, Simon, for the video, and thank you, Playmaker6174, for the great puzzle!

[@TheBiggreenpig]

45:23 for me. It was nice to see a "close" to Simon. Even if he talks some and explains some steps.

[@kuchcyk]

I don't think I've ever shouted so much at a recorded video in the hope that Simon would retrospectively hear me both of which things are impossible

[@nadines.1107]

I do that a lot... and what is time amd space anyway.... i still hope he hears me!

[@ronjohnson6916]

Oh yes. So much cleverness to get a naked single. That he doesn't spot.

[@kuchcyk]

@@ronjohnson6916 it’s just frustration that a genius does not see the bleedin’ obvious when I, a mere mortal, can do so immediately because one of the few ‘tricks’ I have is to scan columns and rows automatically.

[@ceevio_art]

Simon's scanning - or rather his obstinate refusal to scan - has become chronic. On the odd occasion that he becomes self-aware of this , he asks himself out loud: "Why can't I see that?"... but then doesn't bother to answer his own question and moves on immediately and continues to 'not see' things that most beginners would see in seconds. The question he should be asking himself is not "Why can't I see that?".. but rather: "Why am I not LOOKING for that?" He really needs to do the occasional GAS vid to get his 101 Sudoku brain back.

[@cj719521]

I did this one and I feel very proud! I only needed a couple hints. SPOILERS The first hint was how to use set to narrow down the aligned arrows. The next was the interaction of the arrow and renban in the bottom left around fives. Finally I thought I’d broken the puzzle, but watching a little more of the video highlighted my mistake (I’d removed a 4 from a 2-cell renban because I assumed it one of the cells had to be higher than the other without good reason). I’m especially proud because while I took the set strategy suggestion, I didn’t watch through and was able to apply the strategy and move through the puzzle ‘til the fives all on my own, which is a big step for me! Absolutely beautiful puzzle. Thank you!

[@markschneider623]

I am glad that after solving the puzzle you review the solve path. I never miss a video, something good has come of the 2020 lockdown and the KZbin algorithm.

[@crystalgehrt8861]

This puzzle is a fun little dance full of whirls and twirls and hidden interactive gems. I love it!

[@th.nd.r]

Absolutely awesome setting and solving here! So many cool deductions, and I especially love everything happening in columns 3/4/6/7

[@leickrobinson5186]

19:15 Screaming at my screen that Simon can apply the same logic to see that r8c3 must be 1 greater than r9c4, so they must be 5 & 6! (But, alas, he doesn’t hear me.) :-D

[@Rubikscube0094]

I did the same 🤣😁

[@AdriansNetlis]

Simon, just place that 9 on column 6 already. I've been waiting for over a minute already :D Edit. And then I see him use arrow totals to deduce the 9 instead of logic he found about 5 minutes earlier. This man's abilities to always find a way to solve digits in totally different ways to how I would do it...

[@ronbalut592]

He fixates on solving the puzzle parts and only does Sudoku when he's stuck. Frustrating to watch but fun to yell at him. 😀

[@MadTamB]

@21:00 With the powerful Renban line, we know which side is 1 greater than the other, then we know the values

[@ronbalut592]

I love to yell at the screen when Simon is solving a puzzle. 😂

[@ericpraline1302]

For me at least, this was one of those puzzles where suddenly one has a lightbulb moment. Took me a while for it to happen, but better late than never. Great puzzle.

[@Daniel.Walker]

Early doors after set removals: yellow min val 15 and green max val 17. With only two degrees of freedom, gives you two values for c3r8 and its renban partner. The r9 7 disambiguates the pair into 6 and 5!

[@longwaytotipperary]

Yes, I value calm, logic and rationality! Also the word syzygy and dancing digits! 👍✌🖖

[@culsandar]

I adore his "Do have a go" smile. Simon you seem as happy to share it as you do to solve it. Love the channel keep it up guys.

[@mvansprang5635]

After concluding that R9C3 is a 9, the only place in column 6 where a 9 can be placed is R6. Thanks to the 3 renban lines that increase from C6 to C7 there can be no 9 in C6 on the renban cells.

[@jeffreyvannieuwkoop6809]

Hello everyone. Good weekend!

[@davidrattner9]

Afternoon my good man. Hope you have a great weekend

[@jude1293]

Me 22:00 in for a full 5 minutes going "it has to be a 5 6 pair because you couldn't fill in the two same numbers above them otherwise!" until you found it using sudoku 😂

[@gobsvensen]

I had an alternate break-in to get r9c6 and r6c6. Once you have r9c7 as a 7, the digit one less than it (the 6) cant go on any of the renban lines in column 6, forcing it into one of the arrow sums, and forcing the other one to be a 9 to sum to at least 15, and the order of the 6-9 is forced. Nice.

[@wazzzuuupkiwi]

Great puzzle, I had no idea how to start, but watching you use set and then pausing gave me a great kickstart. However when I got stuck again and came back to the video I was essentially ripping my hair out at how your lack of pencil marking slowed you down. You brilliantly deduce that the 5 arrow cells in column 3 can't hold 678 or 9. But instead of penciling in the 12345 quintuple you leave it and not only do you stare at the 36 and 45 option when you fill in a 9 on the 2cell arrow. But 5 in the arrows in column 3 forces the 5 to the bottom of column 4 and chains into more digits. You definitely got there, but I can't help pointing this out :p

[@psychoja]

14:01 - "Where do you put 8 in Column 3?" is the main question :)

[@bibliopolist]

Excellent break in, and a good puzzle. I think one of Simon's weaknesses other than forgetting incredible deductions one second after he made them is plainly scanning renbans (and white kropki dots). I don't know why, but this comes quite natural to me while Simon always has some complicated approach (like "there must be an even number on a two-cell renban").

[@dewottgaming1507]

if simon remembered his break in logic, he could have gotten the 5-6 renban way earlier, cause he technically already knew that the green (later red) digit had to be the higher digit which left only that one possibility to fill it in. but he got it in the end anyway.

[@carlossosa2907]

In my solve I switched inadvertently the positions of 6 and 9 on boxes 1 and 3 and it the program still considered it correct, although I see how Simon's got the better solve

[@Javantea]

1 hour 35 minutes. I found the break in right away and made some pretty messy logic ruling out 5, 8, 7, and then 6 from the cornerstone piece. After resetting I decided 5 was worth a look. I ended up with what I think is a non-unique solution which is a little frustrating. I must have taken a wrong turn. I did solve the puzzle though. I'll be putting my board states into the solver and see what it thinks. What a fantastic sudoku this was.

[@TheRedTurtlez]

I randomly found this channel, and oh boy was this video a treat

[@nhutang433]

59:28 minutes for me. An amazing consecutive constraint break-in puzzle!

[@Sam_weiqi]

29:43. Another very fun puzzle!

[@jpatrick1967]

For five minutes I’m “yelling” at my phone about the 8 in column 3. The madness inside is growing for those of us watching Simon.

[@Hephaestus_God]

12:10 instead of figuring out all that sutff up until 19:00 you can also just say where does 9 go in column 6? You said the 3 blue squares have to be 1 less than the oranges and you cant put a 10 in orange, it can't go in box 8 due to your pencil marks and sodoku, so it can only go in the middle circle

[@goplayer7]

A comment during this solve gave me an idea for a rule set that would be interesting to see: Arrow sudoku where it is possible for the arrow to add up to a two digit number and if it does it could either be read left to right or up to down with one of the digits in the bulb.

[@sjm6280]

Not the same but at least a 2-digits arrow: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fae6pWyNZ86Mg7c

[@bertbergers9171]

I have to react at least once now: At 37:40 you start talking about a possible 2,4 pair deadly pattern in boxes 4 and 7. At that time you could allready have proven it to be just that pattern :P The 6,7,9 triple in column 1 proves the 6 in box 4 to in column 1, therefore not in the arrowcell, which removes the option to get a 1 from r6c2 (on the arrow). So far, you are still going quite smooth allthough i shouted at the screen a few times allready, missing easy deductions and finding them the long way round. Thanks for another fun video! Ow you found it straight this time just a few minutes later :$ Good job on you!

[@meirkara17]

When you got 67 - 58 in the bottom renban, couldn't you immediately place 6-5 there? That's what I did, because I worked out the 67 square had to be +1 to the 58 square. Did I do something wrong logically here?

[@Sadfluffybear]

Another way of starting this puzzle would be pencil marking all of columns 6 and 7, you would immediatly get a 5678-quintuple in c6, which would also give you the 7 in box 9.

[@fulltimeslackerii8229]

one thing i’m surprised he didn’t note was that the green domino is equal to a yellow pentomino and therefore must be equal to at least 15. once he got the 9, he could have marked 678-567 on the renban

[@wpuymac]

Super fun puzzle! Thanks!

[@DirkieB]

Suggestion to add to the simonisms, provided Simon likes StarTrek. Every time he has to say “7 or 9” he follows with resistance is futile.

[@wanderlustwarrior]

30:32 for my solve! And I did it by using the secret!

[@ericjones3692]

25:14 You got it the hard way, the yellows have to add to the green and red, so the red is one higher then the yellow on the purple line. You used this fact to get the 9, but forgot it for the next 15 minutes. Tells you that the reds are 6.

[@toddbiesel4288]

Also, if red=7, then there's no place for 7 in box 8.

[@martingibbs1179]

I was screaming that r9c4 could never have been an 8. The renban worked the same way as in c6 and c7 in that the higher digit had to be in c3 and not c4 to provide the +1 the 9 needed to make 10.

[@deanvoets8091]

Very fun puzzle. It was a while since I was able to solve one so I guess not too hard :). The break in was quite easy but it took me a while to finish it. About an hour in total.

[@QwDragon]

21:14 Where does 8 go in column 3? On an arrow that reflects it into circle in box 8. So R9C4=5 and R8C3=6. That gives 9=4+5 and 6=1+2+3 in columns 3 and 4.

[@ocaly]

these video's are quite fun/calming to watch. same with chess vods from various streamers, its like the best asmr ever and could recommend to anyone!!

[@bauke28]

I noticed in a video before, but Simon often forgets the power of 1 cel arrows being the same number. In this instance once you've deduced the 9 in r9c3 and the 6 out of the arrows in c3 and thus pencilmarked the 12345 in c3 and you've pencilmarked the 12346789 in c4 you've a naked single 5 in r9c4 and it resolved almost entire c3 and c4. Perhaps he should colour them next time.

[@AndreAy1975]

Solved it with help from the video.

[@peaches760a]

once you get the 7 at 12:00 (r9c7) consider the 8 in column 3. it can't be on the arrow and if it was on the renban (r8c3), it would need a 7 or 9 in r9c4, which it can't be now. So 8 is on one of the two single arrows and r9c6 must now be 6.

[@jeroenmathijssen7996]

Hi i noticed something in box 3 with the 4 and the 5. 5 couldnt be on the purple line as it would create a 4. A 4 in that position would toghetter with a 4 in box 1 remove the 4 in box 2, creating a 1,2,3 triple. This triple would then break the puzzle as you could not place the 1 or a 2 anymore. SO a 5 in box 3 could only be in the middle and a 4 would be in the bottom where i could only go on the right as it could not be on the purple line.

[@alienrenders]

Dammit. I thought the rule was that the it cannot repeat and cannot form a consecutive set. The 'and' is ambiguous in the description. edit: 16:19 for me. Consecutive rule makes a difference, lol. I did not gain any time having looked at the wrong rules beforehand because the whole reason I went back was that this was easy to solve if the lines were consecutive. Or add 20s. Nice puzzle. I liked the three lines the top between box 2 and 3. edit2: A few points before the 20:00 mark in the video. You can go about it the other way around. First look at the green cells in box 7. The 9 is one larger than four yellow cells in column 4. So the 9 is one less. That means the other green cell has to be one larger than the yellow cell in box 8. So that cell could have never been an 8. Also, Simon had just explained earlier how you can't have an 8 in 5 cells that add up to 15 to 17. You could have gotten the 5 earlier. Also, once you get the 12 pair in column 6, you know the bottom arrow is 34 because you already have the 5 in the box. Then if you pencil mark the renban lines in column 6, you fill in 5678 (can't use 9 because these all have to be lower than their counterparts). The counterparts are 6789 and can't be 7 because of the circle at the bottom. This bounces back that 6 goes in the circle at the bottom of column 6. I haven't watched further, but in my solve I noticed the renban line in box 9 can't be a 6 or 7, so it must have a 3 on it. That affects the arrow.

[@carlscheuermann3684]

That was exactly my level of difficulty. Tough, but I made it.

[@piarittersporn]

Brilliant puzzle. 👍

[@IanUniacke]

I completely missed the last renban (the 4) so I resorted to using the ring method and got it without that...this puzzle is clearly far too generous. :P

[@ApesAmongUs]

23:40. I just realized you can't have a 78 on the bottom renband, since that would leave a 5 on both 1 cell arrows. And that resolves how to make the 9 at the top. That renband is 90% of this puzzle.

[@dashvash5440]

NO he figured out box 8 with Sudoku and not by seeing that the eight had to be in the arrows! So unfair. Really cool puzzle so far but I really wanted Simon to see that piece of logic. Now it's lost... like tears in the rain

[@dangrene617]

Simon lost quite a bit of time on the R8C3-R9C4 renban, forgetting that the original green-yellow set equivalence meant the green (later red) cell had to be one greater than the yellow cell. That said, I gave up my own solve after about five minutes, ha.

[@saiyanprince989]

Makes the deduction that the 5 yellow cells equal the 2 green ones and then promptly forgets about it.

[@Raven-Creations]

Wow, you were totally overthinking this. You could have done it in half the time. First, when you said you didn't know anything about the green/yellow renban, you were wrong. Yellow had to add to at least 15, so green did too. The second green was 678, which was one greater the bottom yellow, which must therefore be 567. After getting the 7 in R9, these became 67 and 56. The two single-cell arrows were 5678, giving a quad in box 7. 9 must go on the herringbones in C7, so 8 must go on them in C6, making the lower arrow a 6, and forcing the upper arrow to be a 45 9. This gave you a 578 triple in C4 in box 8, so the top arrows on the left had to be a 123 6 and a 45 9 as well. You have 689 on the herringbone in box 3, which must join with 578 in C6. In C3 you have 678 in the three cells above the 9, which means the renban must be 65, and the single-cell arrows are 78. This is all the info you need to motor through the rest. Even by your over-complex logic, you were still not paying attention. You reversed into getting the 578 triple in C4, but failed to eliminate 7 from your 67 arrow. Stop being a scatterbrain and make your intellect work for you. As my mum would put it, "your head's full of jolly robins". You don't only need to think about the puzzle's logic, but about acting logically. Someone with your intelligence and experience should have easily done this in 20 minutes. You not only had me shouting today, you reduced me to swearing like Team America.

[@EmilyGamerGirl]

25:20 You already knew the red digit on the renban was one greater than the other digit, so that 6 was placable for quite a few minutes staring you in the face...

[@cyrelemoune1181]

Loved the puzzle, am so proud of myself that I was able to solve it. One thing tho: Who else was sad that Simon did not spot the 3 in the corner?

[@onijester56]

@19:24 Sudoku of 9 to the 6/7/9 eliminates that Green from being 9, forcing it as a 6/7 and thus demanding the remaining green square as 9. I noticed a thing 20 seconds before you. That makes me happy! @30:10 Where does the 5 go in Box 7? If it can't be on the Renban line, it must go on the arrow. 40 second notice! YAY! @41:08 1/2 pair forces Yellow to be 4, which forces the 4/5 on the top row to be 5, and the bottom of the arrow to be 4. Collapses the 3/4 to 3, removes the 3 and 4 from the 1/2/3/4 yellow. That's 52 second notice, but I am not happy claiming it because you unwound a different way.

[@leickrobinson5186]

So happy: 41 minutes! Loved this one! :-D

[@sjm6280]

Simon keeping 8 as an option for r9c4 when he knew it had to be the low digit in its renban line... ...

[@FireSiku]

Others might be angry at keeping the 7 as an option in r6c4 despite the 578 triple in box 8... But keeping the 8 in r9c4 is definitely a bigger sin in my opinion because we already know eliminations by sudoku is the last thing Simon will attempt to do.

[@markp7262]

I got frustrated after a major mistake on my board (which all started when I inadvertently removed a 1 pencil mark from r4c2) and forgot to restart my timer, but it wasn't pretty (probably around 1:00:00). A couple things of note. Simon forgot that yellow and green were the same totals, meaning that r8c3 has to be one more than r9c4 instead of one less (ruling 8 out of r9c4). Also, 9 has to be on renbans in column 7, placing an 8 on the renbans in column 6, eliminating it from r9c6.

[@arnodus70]

9 in column 6 was always restricted. Cell on renban in column 3 has to be higher than other cell on renban.

[@SweDennis]

Many congratulations for 450k, forwards and onwards toward 500k. :-D

[@Swisswavey]

38 minutes for me, for some reason I struggle with renban lines (is that what they're called?) so I'm happy to get through unscathed.

[@Coyotek4]

*phew* ... took me over an hour (1:04:22) and some of my logic was 'tortured' to say the least, but I did eventually find a pathway through Tough puzzle (for me, anyway)!

[@lesyriad]

18:15 not me screaming at the screen for the last 5 minutes. you talked about not being able to put 8 in two 5 cell arrows in c6. do the same now for c3

[@BlueCyann]

37 minutes with a boatload of distractions, that was a lot of fun.

[@stevezagieboylo9172]

That was definitely the hard way to get the 9 in column 3. I simply observed that the two circles in column 4 (that is, the real ones) have to be duplicated in column 3 in rows 8 and 9, and the 5 cells that make up their sums must be where they are, and the same deduction with the renban line to get the 9 in column 3.

[@elilogan8630]

That's the same thing he did

[@_-_-Sipita-_-_]

20 minutes and its all lost, and i confused the rules with some type of antirenbans that cannot form a set of consecutives, wondering if 5-6-9 was correct or not

[@carlscheuermann3684]

Off Topic--comments seem to be turned off on newer videos. Or did I muck with my own settings some how? Today, Simon solved The Puzzle They Said We Should Never Do, and I wanted to praise it, but I cannot. :sad emoji:

[@madsli]

Put that 9 in box 5 already!

[@tchpowdog]

This is one of my favorite KZbin channels and I love Simon. But I always seem to find myself screaming at him lol r8c3 had to be 1 higher than r9c4 - we learned this when we used set on column 3 and 4. You couldn't have gotten 6 and 5 into r8c3 and r9c4 a bit earlier.

[@Rubikscube0094]

Someone please correct my logic in C4, given the yellows have to be 1-5 doesn't that make the 5 in R9C4 self-evident given the 1234 quadruple

[@RichSmith77]

I'm not sure what point in the video you're referring to, but how do you know the five yellow digits have to be 1-5?

[@elvagabundo4607]

Chocolate with raisins....I am this close to cancelling my patreon membership....chocolate and raisins NEVER belong together. Fantastic solve in every other way ;)

[@gc2009able]

Once I saw Simon start to do the math cancelation, I managed the rest of this one on my own! Some deductions I got to more quickly, some more slowly. Sadly, I lucked out in my solve because I used erroneous logic to eliminate 4 and 5 from r7c2. Oops...

[@jackburton3149]

16:55 🤣

[@andrewjanssen8663]

Almost painful seeing Simon initially miss the deduction that once he eliminated 8 from r8c3 he could eliminate it from r3c4 & r6c4, thus forcing 8 into the left third of box 8 and making r9c6 a 6. But he caught it a few minutes later. And then failed to see the 5-7-8 triple that resolved r6c4 as a 6….

[@stevesinger7766]

Proof of my insanity. Five minutes of Shouting at the screen: “Where does 6 go in column 4?!”

[@kathyjohnson2043]

Lol 🤣

[@timcotton1782]

So yes, I confess that I was yelling at Simon for some time that R9C4 could NOT be an 8, had to be 5. The deduction by which he placed 9 in R9C3 required that R9C4 be smaller than R8C3 on that Renban line. I mean, he had no trouble remembering that the column 7 parts of those Renbans crossing C6 and C7 were each 1 higher, but studiously forgot the value relationship on his first deduction.

[@stevesebzda570]

[@7:05] "Elide," Simon said. That's a new one [that I recall in my life].. Nice.. Good one. Thanks, Simon, lol. Cool ;)) [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would be proud of You -- because THAT'S not in there.. - - I think, anyway, I swear.. ] Lol [good job ] 😂😎☕☕[

[@stephenjames2951]

He forgot that column three was one greater for the renban at the bottom. And the naked 6